Arts & Life

Photo Killian Scott in the new USA series “Damnation.” Credit Chris Large/USA Network You can read the title of the USA drama “Damnation” a couple of ways — damn nation, damned nation — that both work. It’s hard to figure out what this odd, bordering on bizarre historical something or …

It’s unusual for a debut author to be showered in such over-the-top accolades and compared to literary masters. But then again, Mr. Weiner, 52, has hardly been laboring in obscurity. In a screenwriting career that spans more than 20 years, he’s been a creative force behind some of our era’s …

Photo Preeti Vasudevan (hands covered in flour) talked and danced in “Stories by Hand” at New York Live Arts. Credit Andrea Mohin/The New York Times “I struggle with English,” the dancer Preeti Vasudevan told an audience at New York Live Arts on Thursday, speaking eloquently in English. The problem, she …

Photo Jeffrey Roth, center, without his puppet, playing the title character in “The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald.” Behind, from left, with dummies: Valois Mickens, Sarah Lafferty, Ben Watts, Michelle Beshaw and Deborah Beshaw-Farrell. Credit Jonathan Slaff If you have ever wondered who pulled the strings of the …

A boyish 29-year-old Seattle native with the slight but toned build of a gymnast, he looked me in the eye and shook my hand when we met. On our table, he placed a sheaf of papers face down — scripted notes it made him feel better to have, which he …

Mr. Juchem said he didn’t believe the archivist at first, but when he saw the handwriting, “My jaw dropped.” Photo Weill’s manuscript for “Song of the White Cheese.” Credit Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Theaterhistorische Sammlungen, Nachlass Gerda Schaefer Then the search for the song’s origin began. Lenya had …

Princeton’s heavily Southern antebellum student body — and its desire to keep the sons of slaveholders comfortable — may have set it apart. But its deep entanglements with slavery did not. “Princeton’s history is American history writ small,” said Martha Sandweiss, the history professor who led the project. “From the …

Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins, a Princeton graduate whose plays include “An Octoroon” and “Neighbors,” said he was inspired by Stockton’s travels to Hawaii, a place where American racial categories were “essentially incomprehensible.” He said he was also moved by her commitment to education for everyone — in contrast to Princeton itself, which …

Photo David Lang, a Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning composer, created “Symphony for a Broken Orchestra” to help raise money to repair musical instruments for the Philadelphia school system. Credit Peter Serling Parents are used to hearing that school budgets are putting the squeeze on activities like music and sports. But rarely …

A John Coltrane documentary, featuring the voice of Denzel Washington, has its premiere on PBS. And “Rolling Stone: Stories From the Edge” celebrates the magazine’s 50th anniversary. What’s on TV INDEPENDENT LENS: CHASING TRANE 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Denzel Washington lends his voice to this documentary about …